by Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby
U.S. Troops working alongside Ecuadorian law enforcement carried out a series of raids in the South American country targeting a network of the Mexican terrorist organization Cartel Jalisco New Generation. The Mexican cartel had established a presence there to funnel drugs from Colombia, through Ecuador, into Mexico, and eventually into the United States.
The raids took place early Thursday morning in eight separate cities in Ecuador, where authorities managed to arrest 30 cartel members operating in that country.
According to statements from Ecuador’s Minister of the Interior John Reimberg, the cartel members had no connections to any gangs or local criminal organizations but were directly operating for CJNG. The case was the result of an eight-month investigation that revealed that the presence in Ecuador was primarily to funnel drugs via waterways further north into Central America, Mexico, and eventually into the United States or Europe.
La cooperación internacional tiene resultados.
Seguimos trabajando. pic.twitter.com/nTE3xqWmhZ
— John Reimberg (@JohnReimberg) September 24, 2026